Red Sea Reefer 170 Build

[GobyMon]

Just bought my reefer 170. I want to do this thing the right way, no holding back or corner cutting. Please give me your honest opinion on my actions, thanks in advance. First I mounted an xr15 pro with eco techs rms mount, had to tape a small shim on the inside to make this mount sit straight on the back of the tank. Today I ordered some pukani,reef saver, and shelf rock from brs. Going to start with all dry rock since my 57 deep blue tank has so many critters in the LR. Not sure if I will go BB or SSB on this build but I've never run a BB and Like the look of a sand bed. Stay tuned for pictures and details.

 

[cpllongjk]

Good luck with build. I just got a 170 too. I took a break from reefing this past year and am jumping in just like you.

In terms of substrate...

In the past I have done both shallow sand bed and BB. My wife loves BB but you need to have a lot of flow or something to stir up detritus daily. I owned tunze 6055s and I would program them to make a sort of tidal swell that stirred up everything for a good 30 minutes a day, a lot like a storm. What I didn't like about BB was that it didnt look natural.

Shallow sand beds are a lot like BB, but you must be sure to stir up the detritus in the areas of the tank that settle. When I cleaned my glass or did my weekly water change I would put in a 100 micron filter sock and blast my rocks and behind them with a power head. I bought a cheap power head for this task. You can always use a turkey baster if you want to do it by hand. The idea is to get all the "poo" floating and trapped by the filter sock. I always turned my skimmer off during this process.

On my next tank I will be doing a shallow sand bed as well. Just do a weekly water change and cleaning all at once. Use a stick or scraper to stir the bed that doesnt get disturbed too often. You dont want any pockets of trapped detritus or gasses.

Good Luck.